Vertical roll arrangement and removal thereof in a universal beam mill



y 7, 1970 .J. R. ADAIR 3,518,863

VERTICAL ROLL ARRANGEMENT AND REMOVAL THEREOF IN A UNIVERSAL BEAM MILLFiled May 27, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

P JAMES R.AOA/R July 7, 1970 R. ADA|R 3,518,863

VERTICAL ROLL ARRANGEMENT AND REMOVAL THEREOF IN A UNIVERSAL BEAM MILLFiled May 27, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I NVE N TOR. J JAMES ADA/xATTORA/EV.

United States Patent 0 T 3,518,863 VERTICAL ROLL ARRANGEMENT AND REMOVALTHEREOF IN A UNIVERSAL BEAM MILL James Richard Adair, Pittsburgh, Pa.assignor to United Engineering and Foundry Company, Pittsburgh, Pa., acorporation of Pennsylvania Filed May 27, 1968, Ser. No. 732,229 Int.Cl. B21b 31/10 US. Cl. 72-239 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Thedisclosure of this invention relates to a universal wide flange beammill and, more particularly, to the vertical roll arrangements of such amill and a system for quickly removing the vertical rolls from the mill.In the disclosure the vertical roll assemblies are received in upright,spaced-apart housings so formed that in the region of the pass linethere is provided, at least on one side between the housing, an opening.The housings are provided with recesses for receiving one of thevertical roll assemblies, the recesses being of a relatively shallowdepth such that the rolls themselves fall outside the recesses. Thehousings are separated sufficiently to allow one roll assembly to bemoved toward the center of the mill entirely out of its recess withoutinterference by the other roll assembly. The roll assemblies includebearing chocks having inner rigid portions constructed to resistdeflection of the bearing chocks due to the rolling load. The rolls areactually removed and replaced once they have been advanced into theregion of the mill opening by a porter bar that is conveyed to and fromthe mill by the agency of the mill table.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTS OF INVENTION The present invention has twoprimary objects; the first being to provide a mill construction withreference to that portion thereof that houses the vertical rolls whichis considerably more rigid than conventional mill construction. Inconventional mills it is customary to provide large sections and yokesthat extend outward from each of the upright housings which are providedwith openings such that the vertical roll assemblies can be moved awayfrom the center of the mill to clear the housings from which positionthey can be lifted up through the yokes. Even with the large sectionarea that the yokes for large mills possess, they experienceconsiderable deflection under rolling loads. The long extending yokesalso require the use of very long screws that are employed to adjust thevertical rolls which adds to the deflection.

In the present invention there is provided an arrangement forconsiderably reducing the extended yokes of the housings and likewisefor reducing the length of the screws. The mill is designed so that thevertical rolls can be withdrawn from the inside of the mill so that theyoke portion need not be extended, a distance sufiicient to allow therolls to be removed from the outside of the mill. This allows the yoketo be considerably reduced in the dimension normal to the pass line ofthe mill. Still better deflection characteristics are achieved by thepresent invention in providing a very rigid support structure for therolls, one aspect of which consists in providing a bearing chock havinga first part which receives the roll and a second part rearwardlydisposed relative to the roll which forms a very rigid backup member forthe rolls. The bearing chock is received in the shallow recess of thehousing such that the roll itself fails outside of the recess and onlythe backup member of the chock extends 3,518,863 Patented July 7, 1970into the recess. The roll assemblies are advanced towards and away fromthe center of the mill and, hence, into and out of the recess by a pairof screws positioned at the extreme end of the bearing chocks in amanner to lend additional rigidity to the overall system.

The second important object of the present invention has to do with aneffective and inexpensive manner of removing and replacing the verticalrolls. In prior mills of the type under consideration the rolls wereremoved from the outside of the mill, generally by a crane. This wasfound to be a very costly and time-consuming procedure. The presentinvention, as noted above, provides for the rolls to be removed andreplaced from the inside of the mill. This is accomplished by providinga sufiicient opening between the housings of the mill so that a rollassembly can be moved to the center of the mill where it will be engagedand supported 'by a porter bar. This porter bar is carried and advancedby the mill table rollers and, in face, guided by the side guards of thetable and positioned in proper position to receive a roll to be removedfrom the mill. After the porter bar has received a roll, it is removedfrom the mill by the table and a new roll is placed on the porter barand brought to the mill.

DRAWINGS These and other objects of the present invention will becomemore apparent when the following description is read along with theaccompanying drawings, of which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of one embodiment of the present inventionshowing, in phantom, a replacement vertical roll assembly in front ofthe mill being carried by the porter bar in addition to two othervertical roll assemblies shown in the mill; and

FIG. 2 is an elevational view of the upper portion of the mill shown inFIG. 1, taken at lines II-II thereof.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Referring to the above figures, it will beappreciated that many of the well-known mill elements, while shown, neednot be described, while it has not been deemed necessary to show others.In FIG. 1 there is illustrated a pair of opposed upright housings 10 and11 of a universal wide flange beam mill. Each housing is provided withvertical windows, one of which is identified as 12, in FIG. 2 and whichreceive the bearing chocks 13 and 14 of the horizontal rolls 15 and 16.In the usual manner the housings are provided with vertical rolls 17 and18. Since the invention relates particularly to that part of the millthat relates to the vertical rolls, particular attention will now begiven to the housing design for the vertical rolls. As best shown inFIG. 1, each housing 10 and 11, includes horizontal projecting, butrelatively short, U-shaped yokes or wings 21 and 22, respectively, thatextend from the outside of the mill on a plane passing through the passline of the mill. The yokes, at their interiors, have rectangularlyshaped recesses 23 and 24 into which are received bearing chocks 25 and26 of the vertical rolls 17 and 18. In the illustrated form the depth ofthe bearing chocks is more than twice the depth of the recesses. Thefront part of the vertical bearing chocks 25 and 26, it will be noted,are the portions in which the rolls are mounted; whereas, the backportion takes the form of very rigid, solid blocks. The bearing chocksthemselves have the side projections that fit into guideway 28 formed inthe housings 10 and 11 and which include supporting ledges 29, best seenas to the housing 10 in FIG. 1. The ledges 29, it will be observed, areactually formed in the recesses 23 and 24. It is important to note thatthe depth of these recesses are quite shallow in comparison with thedepth of the bearing chocks. In fact, as shown in FIG. 1 with referenceto the housing 11, the bearing chocks, when received in the recesses,extend a considerable distance out of the recesses such that the rollbody of the vertical rolls 17 and 18 fall outside of the recesses.

Each bearing chock 25 and 26 is advanced toward the opposed housing byscrews 32 spaced at the extreme ends of the bearing chocks. The placingof the screws 32 is an important consideration in the minimizing of thedeflections of the housing and, hence, obtaining a very stiff housingconstruction. As noted in FIG. 1, with reference to the housing 11, thescrews are mounted adjacent to the stiffest portions of the wing toobtain the advantage of maximum resistance against deflection. Eachbearing chock 25 and 26 is held against the screws 32 by a pair ofpullback cylinders 33, also carried by the housings and 11. The pairs ofscrews are driven by separate gear-motor units 34 in the customarymanner.

As seen in FIG. 1 the bearing chock support ledges 29 have extensions 35running towards the center of the mill. The vertical roll assemblies areadapted to be lifted off the extensions 35 in order to facilitate theirremoval by means of lifter assemblies. One of these assemblies isprovided for each housing 10 and 11 and comprises a pair of vertical,spaced-apart displaceable rods 36 arranged in the region of the centerof the mill. The lower ends of each pair of rods are connected to theend of a bell crank 37 which is rotated to raise and lower the rods by apiston cylinder assembly 38. In another form the porter bar that removesthe rolls can be vertically displaceable in employing tiltable tables toengage and lift the rolls free for removal, thus eliminating the needfor the lifter assemblies.

Turning now to the mill construction that enables the rapid removal andreplacement of the vertical rolls 17 and 18, as noted above, the rollsare adapted to be moved alternately towards the center of the mill to aposition illustrated by the roll 17 in FIG. 1, in which position theyare removed from the mill. To accomplish this, at least on one side ofthe mill, viz., the left side in the mill arrangement shown in FIGS. 1and 2, the mill is designed to provide an opening 39 through which theold and new vertical rolls can be removed and replaced, respectively.The screws 32, of course, are not physically attached to the bearingchocks 25 and 26 so that they need not be disconnected. The pistoncylinder assemblies 33 are provided with hooks so that the bearingchocks upon being raised automatically remove themselves from the pistoncylinder assemblies and, upon being lowered, automatically re-engagethemselves. The extensions 35 support the bearing chocks when they areadvanced towards the center of the mill.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 the vertical roll assemblies are adapted to besupported by a porter bar 41 advanced towards and away from the mill bythe mill roller tables 42 and, as shown in FIGURE 1, is guided duringmovement by the adjustable side guides 43 and 44 associated with themill table. The table and guides are of well-known mill construction andneed not be described further aside from noting the table rollers 46 aredriven and through which agency the porter bar 41 is propelled towardsand away from the mill. The porter bar is provided with a narrow frontportion 47 which includes recesses 48 which receive feet 49 formed onthe bearing chocks 25 and 26 and which prevent the bearing chocks frommoving relative to the porter bar. Before the front portion 47 of theporter bar is moved between the mill housings 10 and 11 into the opening39, one of the rolls is fully retracted into its recess 23 or 24 and theother moved completely out of its recess into the roll changing positionshown in FIG. 1. The bearing chock 25, which is to be removed first, isthen raised a suflicient distance by one of the lifter assemblies toallow the portion 47 of the porter bar 41 to be moved under the rollassembly and allowing the latter to be lowered onto the porter bar. Thetable 42 will be operated to remove the porter bar to a place where acrane will replace the Old roll assembly with a new one to be insertedinto the mill by reversing the aforesaid sequence of operation.

While the porter bar 41 is designed to accommodate a number of differenttype mills, such as, a mill arrangement where the edger mill may or maynot be removable from the mill steel line, in mills of the former type,and at considerable savings in lost time, the porter bar can be employedto pass entirely through the mill instead of having to reverse itself inthe removal and replacement of the vertical rolls. In this case, theporter bar can take the form of a slab in which a new roll will bepositioned at the end furthest away from the mill. The slab, thus, isfree to first receive an old roll assembly at its front end after whichthe slab is advanced by the table to bring its other end into a positionto have a new roll assembly removed from it and positioned in the mill.Following this, the table bar moves the slab out through the far side ofthe mill onto a delivery table. A similar process will be followed witha second slab for the removal and replacement of the other verticalroll.

In acocrdance with the provisions of the patent statutes, I haveexplained the principle and operation of my invention and haveillustrated and described what I consider to represent the bestembodiment thereof. However, I desire to have it understood that withinthe scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practicedotherwise than as specifically illustrated and described.

I claim:

1. A rolling mill having a cooperative pair of vertical roll assemblies,

a housing for receiving said roll assemblies,

said roll assembly having bearing chocks, including outer portions forrotatably supporting a roll and inner rigid portions constructed toresist deflection of the bearing chocks due to the rolling loads, saidhousings having opposed spaced-apart upright members constructed andarranged to form a central mill opening on at least one side of themill,

said roll assemblies being supported by a different upright member andarranged relative thereto to move into said opening towards and awayfrom said other roll assembly and said other member, recesses in eachmember for receiving and having surfaces for supporting and guiding abearing chock of a roll assembly,

each recess being of a relatively shallow depth and whereinsubstantially the entire body of the roll falls outside of said recess.

said members being separated by a distance at least suflicient to allowone roll assembly to be moved entirely out of its recess of one memberwhile the other roll assemly is still in the recess of the other member,

a roll adjusting means for each roll assembly for moving said rollassemblies into and out of their recesses and into said center millopening for removal and replacement of said roll assemblies through saidopening,

said adjusting means each including two rigid members carried by one ofsaid upright members and engageable with the bearing chocks of said rollassemblies in the region adjacent the opposite ends of said inner rigidportions of said bearing chocks in a manner to minimize deflection ofthe members due to the rolling load, and

means for supporting said roll assemblies when in said center millopening.

2. A rolling milling according to claim 1 wherein said means forsupporting said roll assemblies comprise for each housing extensions ofsaid guiding surfaces of said recesses that extend into said opening.

3. In a rolling mill according to claim 1 including a workpiececonveying table located at the side of the mill adjacent to saidopening,

a porter bar constructed to rest on said table and to be advanced to andfrom said opening by said table,

said porter bar including means for carrying a roll assembly to and fromthe opening of said mill.

4. In a mill according to claim 1 including a lifter associated witheach housing, power means for causing said lifter to engage a rollassembly when positioned in said opening for raising and lowering saidroll assemblies relative to a carrying means.

5. In a rolling mill according to claim 4 wherein each lifter comprisesa pair of vertically arranged, spaced-apart 6. In a rolling millaccording to claim 1 wherein the depth of said recesses is less than onehalf of the depth of a bearing chock.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,752,804 7/1956 Kalberkamp72-239 3,196,658 7/1965 Sieger et al 72239 3,217,526 11/1965 Wilson eta1 72-239 3,222,901 12/1965 Hill 72--239 CHARLES W. LANHAM, PrimaryExaminer B. I. MUSTAIKIS, Assistant Examiner

